Your Morning Dump… Where Rondo’s might have found his stroke

Every
morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here…
highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as
satisfying a good morning dump.

“Confidence,” Wallace said of one possible result from that shot.
“It was a big shot. Even though that wasn’t the drawn-up play, that’s
something you need. If this is a playoff game, now we’re not sitting
there wondering will he take it? Will he take it? We know.”

Allen hopes that a seed was planted in Rondo’s psyche.

“All it takes is one,” he said. “It can cause a small fire and turn into a blaze for him.”

“He’s
confident to take that [shot] in that stretch,’’ said Paul Pierce, who
saved the Celtics with 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. “It was
the biggest shot of the night because if he doesn’t make that, we are
looking at the possibility of Philly coming down and tying it or
winning the game. Usually shots like that give a player confidence. I
remember my first game-winning shot I made . . . it just gave me a lot
of confidence. So hopefully it will do the same for Rondo.’’

No hesitation, no other options. You've got the ball… you know you've got to shoot it… so you do. And Rondo nailed it.

You know, there's been a lot of talk about how the Celtics are old and slow. But it's funny that they don't look so old or slow when Rondo is playing his aggressive brand of basketball. For three quarters, Rondo frustrated the hell out of us by over passing and waving at guys on D. Is there anything more frustrating than Rondo getting to the rim and then turning and whipping a pass out to the 3 point line?

But Rondo showed up in the 4th, and the Celtics made a huge run. And when the Celtics nearly passed themselves out of another possession, Rondo came through with that clutch jumper.

It goes back to what we've been saying since last season: As Rondo goes, so goes the Celtics. Aggressive Rondo wrecks you on both ends of the floor. Passive Rondo leads to easy baskets and disjointed offense. Paul Pierce can bail you out… but Rondo can set the tone. We need more of what we saw in the 4th quarter.

Up next, Page 2… Where Doc has 3 letters to describe Paul Pierce

“He’s been MVP to me,” Rivers said. “Now only with his play, but all
over. He was on guys in the second quarter and then at halftime about
our play. He’s doing everything you ask him to do. He’s guarding guys,
he’s rebounding, he’s making big shots, he’s taking charges. I mean, I
don’t know what else. He can cook Thanksgiving dinner for someone and
then he’ll be doing it all. He’s been terrific.”

What hasn't Paul Pierce done for this team so far this season? And the two biggest plays he's made so far this year came on the defensive end. The block a the end of the Knicks game, and the charge at the end of last night's game saved each one for the C's.

The thinking/reacting is a good point. But he’s always had a flair for the dramatic, even with the J. How many long 3s has he hit at the buzzer or to end a quarter? How about the two threes against Clev in game 5? He does do some thinking on these big plays. He thinks “this ball is going up, and its going in.” I wonder what his percentage is on these types of shots as compared to the standard fare, where he’s simply shooting a J at an unimportant juncture of an unimportant game?

http://profile.typepad.com/6p01156f6a54c2970c ToTheRuins

i think they’re all overreacting about him making that jumpshot
Ive seen the kid hit huge jumpshots in the playoffs for chissakes
the year we won the championship
Game 5 against Cleveland, rondo hits 2 3 pointers to completely change the momentum of the game
Close out game on the road against detroit, hit a key jumpshot in the 4th quarter.
Game 6 in the finals, hit elbow jumpers throughout the game, took more shots then anyone on the team and finished with a tremendous statline
So i think its a little overreaction by acting like a single shot in a regular season game is all of a sudden gonna swing his confidence in his shot

http://profile.typepad.com/6p01156f5ebb21970c JD

Theres no doubt that Rondo has a better percentage when shooting a jumper with the shot clock winding down compared to a normal shot where he’s left wide open and has time to think about shooting it. I don’t know what it is, but he always seems to nail the ones he needs to take.